University of North Texas Department of Women's and Gender Studies

Home , Africana womanism, Feminism and racism, Queer of color critique

University of North Texas Department of Women’s and Gender Studies

Syllabus WGST 5100: Feminist/Womanist Theories Tuesday 6 to 8:50 pm Lang 222

“Theory is not inherently healing, liberatory, or revolutionary. It fulfills this function only when we ask that it do so and direct theorizing towards this end”- bell hooks

Course description: This graduate seminar examines contemporary issues from the perspective of feminist, womanist, mujerista, and Indigenous theories. With a focus on woman of colors feminisms, queer theory, queer of color critique, transfeminisms, and transnational feminisms, this course will look at multiple points of identity in relation to the forces of securitization, globalization, and nationalism. Following the politics of gender, sexuality, and feminisms across diverse historical and cultural contexts, this course interrogates the intersections of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, nation, and diaspora and considers the ways in which our identities are shaped by citizenship, nationhood, and belonging in light of neocolonialisms and imperialisms. This course is designed to provide students with an introduction to key ideas in feminist/womanist thought. It is not comprehensive and does not cover all the debates and issues in feminist/womanist thought. Rather, it aims to introduce students to key theoretical contributions. The readings included in this syllabus reflect an on-going theoretical conversation in the field as well as a range of academic disciplinary perspectives, methodologies, assumptions, and discursive styles so that we can consider a variety of feminist/womanist discourses. In this way, this seminar is interdisciplinary, reflecting the nature of feminist/womanist theory as a collective endeavor across multiple disciplines.

Name of Instructor: Kristin Alder Office Location: GAB 462 Office Hours: Mondays 12:30 to 1:30 pm and Tuesdays 4:30 to 5:30 pm Email Address: [email protected]

Course Goals: 1. Explain a variety of frameworks for analyzing feminist/womanist issues. 2. Describe both the continuity and diversity of feminist/womanist theories. 3. Identify and articulate the importance of social location in theorizing. 4. To provide opportunities for students to develop and improve skills in critical thinking, observation, analysis, communication, and self-awareness.

Required Course Materials:

1. Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Feminist Thought. (2008) Routledge. 2. Driskill, Finley, Gilley & Morgensen, eds. Queer Indigenous Studies. (2011) The University of Arizona Press. 3. Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality, Volume 1. (1990) Vintage. 4. Maparyan, Layli. The Womanist Idea. (2012) Routledge. 5. Puar, Jasbir. Terrorist Assemblages, Tenth Anniversary Edition. (2017) Duke University Press. 6. Anzaldúa, Gloria & Cherríe Moraga, eds. This Bridge Called My Back, 4th edition. (2015) SUNY Press.

As you read: This is a reading-intensive graduate-level course. I expect students to follow scholarly academic practices and to engage deeply with the readings. You should read (not skim) all assigned reading prior to class, read the material in an engaged manner (i.e., take notes), read all endnotes and footnotes, and seek out definitions for words and terminology you don’t know.

Activities, Assignments, and Grading Policy:

Grades will be rewarded on a point system. Your points will be updated regularly on Canvas.

Grade Points

A 900 - 1000

B 800 - 899

C 700 - 799

D 600 - 699

F 599 and below

1. Attendance: 120 points 2. Participation: 60 points 3. Discussion Questions: 120 points 4. Reading Notes and Presentation: 125 points 5. Class Readings Presentation: 50 points 6. Final Paper and Abstract: 525 points

Attendance: (12 x 10 = 120 points) Each class is worth 10 points. (Points will be deducted for late arrivals and early departures.) This seminar is quite small and we need everyone to attend in order to build community and contribute to our overall knowledge production. As this is a graduate course, I expect you to attend all classes. I do understand, however, that emergencies and illnesses happen. Therefore, you are allowed two absences if necessary. If you miss three classes, you will be unable to receive any grade higher than a B. If you miss four classes, you will be unable to receive any grade higher than a C. If you attend a 13th and a 14th class you will accrue extra credit.

Participation: (12 x 5 = 60 points) Each class is worth 5 points. As this is a graduate seminar you are expected to participate meaningfully in every class meeting. Participation is measured not only in informed discussion, but also in engaged, respectful listening. Because our conversations may include the discussion of personal opinions, needs, and values, it’s imperative that you keep an open-mind, practice listening with raw openness, and heed my suggestions for creating productive dialogue. Please do not assume that you will automatically receive points for talking. My focus is on the quality of your engagement, not the quantity. If you participate in a 13th and a 14th class you will accrue extra credit.

Discussion Questions: (12 x 10 = 120 points) You will construct one discussion question weekly and submit it via email by Tuesday at 9 am. Please do not wait until the last minute to submit these questions. No late discussion questions will be accepted. (Not even if they are only late by one minute.) For details on the assignment, please see the Discussion Question Handout. Each question is worth 10 points. 50% of your score is based on content and 50% is based on form. If you submit a 13th and a 14th discussion question, you will accrue extra credit.

Reading Notes and Presentation: (125 points)1 For week 12 you will read the introduction, “The Revolution is for Everyone,” and a chosen chapter of Queer Indigenous Studies, develop a handout, and present your chosen chapter to the class as a whole. Your handout may be no longer than four single-spaced pages. At the top of your handout, please include your chapter’s bibliographical information in MLA format. Do not try to write a mini essay. Instead, your handout should follow this format: Summary: Succinctly summarize the chapter, focusing on the main argument(s). Your summary should be no longer than 15 sentences. Don’t just give details; interpret the text. Please be sure to explain why you did or did not find the argument effective. Do not use more than one quote in your summary.

1 Thanks to TWU’s Dr. AnaLouise Keating for this assignment. Outline: Outline the chapter’s structure (include page numbers for each section). Do not use more than two quotations; instead, paraphrase and put ideas in your own words. Quotations: Select 2 key quotations that best illustrate the chapter. Briefly explain why you find the quotations effective. Dialogue: Put your chapter in dialogue with one or two of our previous readings from the semester. Your handout is worth 100 points. Your presentation is worth 25 points. You may select any chapter in Queer Indigenous Studies. To choose your selection, see the designated Discussions Board in Canvas.

Class Readings Presentation: (50 points) For a designated week (weeks 2-11, 13-15), you will provide us with a brief (7 to 10 minutes) discussion of some aspect of the day’s readings you would like to focus on. This is not meant to be a summary of the readings, nor is it a chance to provide background on the readings or their authors. Instead, think of it as an opportunity to explore the readings’ arguments, the significance of the readings, and/or your reactions to the readings. You should also consider discussing the relationship of the readings. How does reading them together inform us? To choose your week, see the designated Discussions Board in Canvas.

Final Paper and Abstract: (10 + 15 + 100 + 400 = 525 points) Abstract: You will construct a 150-word abstract to accompany your paper. This abstract is worth 15 points. A rough draft of your abstract will be submitted to me via email in week 7. This abstract is worth 10 points. The abstract rough drafts will be shared anonymously in class in an overall discussion of what makes a good abstract. (It’s okay if your paper abstract and your rough draft abstract are substantially different.) Rough draft: A draft of approximately ten pages plus works cited, works consulted, and works to be consulted is due week 15 for a writing workshop. For the workshop, you will bring three copies of your rough draft. One copy will be read by me. The two remaining copies will be read by your classmates. In total, you will end up with three sets of notes to apply towards your final paper. This draft is worth 100 points. Paper: Select one or more of the theoretical perspectives/concepts/ideas/strands we explore in this course and apply it to your topic of choice. The final draft of your paper should be between 15 and 18 pages. In addition to your 15 to 18 pages, you should construct a works cited page, a works consulted page, and a works to be consulted page. “Works Cited” includes those texts you refer to in your paper. “Works consulted” includes texts you have read or skimmed as you worked on the paper but do not specifically note in the paper. “Works to be consulted” should include texts you anticipate reading as you continue to develop your paper into a publishable article. Your final paper is worth 400 points.

All assignments should be typed in 12 point font, double-spaced, with 1" margins, and using MLA-style bibliographic notation. A list of “Good Writing Guidelines” as well as directives on MLA are posted on Canvas for your use. I will not accept handwritten work.

Late Work:

All assigned work is due in class in accordance with the class schedule; late work will be heavily penalized. An assignment submitted within 24 hours after its due date/class will receive a 25% deduction. An assignment submitted within 48 hours after its due date/class will receive a 50% deduction. An assignment submitted within 72 hours after its due date/class will receive a 75% deduction. Assignments submitted after that will not be accepted and will receive a zero.

Example: If the assignment is due in class on Monday, then any work turned in Monday 2:01 PM to Tuesday 2:20 PM will be deducted 25%. If your assignment is turned in between Tuesday 2:01 PM and Wednesday 2:20 PM, it will be deducted by 50%. If turned in between Wednesday 2:01 PM and Thursday 2:20 PM, your assignment will be deducted by 75%. From 2:01 PM Thursday forward, your work will not be accepted and you will receive a zero for the assignment.

Late work will only be eligible for full credit if accompanied by a university approved absence excuse. (See attendance policy.)

Incompletes: I do not give incompletes unless there are very serious extenuating circumstances that meet the guidelines dictated by the University.

Course Conduct

Our class community will be guided by these presuppositions, which can create a space where we respectfully engage in dialogue with each other.

Dialogue: Some of My Presuppositions by Dr. AnaLouise Keating

Here are some of the presuppositions for our class discussions: 1. Social injustice exists. People are not treated equitably. We live in an unjust society and an unfair world; the remarkable promises of democracy have yet to be fulfilled. Oppression (racism, classism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, etc.) exists on multiple seen and unseen levels.

2. Our educations have been biased. The Eurocentric educational systems, media outlets, and other institutions omit and distort information about our own groups and others. These hidden mechanisms sustain oppression, including an often invisible and normative white supremacy. This white supremacist thinking has affected all of us in various ways; we all have “blank spots,” desconocimientos (Anzaldúa), and so forth.

3. Blame is not useful, but accountability is. It is nonproductive to blame ourselves and/or others for the misinformation we have learned in the past or for ways we have benefitted and continue benefitting from these unjust social systems. However, once we have been exposed to more accurate information, we are accountable! We should work to do something with this information--perhaps by working towards a more just future.

4. “We are related to all that lives.” We are interconnected and interdependent in multiple ways, including economically, ecologically, linguistically, socially, spiritually.

5. Categories and labels shape our perception. Categories and labels, although often necessary and sometimes useful, can prevent us from recognizing our interconnectedness with others. Categories can (a) distort our perceptions; (b) create arbitrary divisions among us; (c) support an oppositional “us-against-them” mentality that prevents us from recognizing potential commonalities; and (d) reinforce the unjust status quo. Relatedly, identity categories based on inflexible labels establish and police boundaries--boundaries that shut us in with those we've deemed “like” “us” and boundaries that shut us out from those whom we assume to be different.

6. People have a basic goodness. People (both the groups we study and class members) generally endeavor to do the best they can. We will all make mistakes, despite our best intentions. The point is to learn from our errors. In order to learn from our errors, we must be willing to listen and to speak (preferably, in this order!).

Listening with Raw Openness by Dr. AnaLouise Keating Listening is a crucial yet too often overlooked element in effective class discussions and other forms of dialogue. Below are some suggestions which, if we all practice, will enhance class discussions. I describe this process as deep listening, or “listening with raw openness.”

* Deep listening entails respect for each speaker’s “complex personhood” (Cervenak et. al.). As we listen, we remind ourselves that each individual we encounter has a specific, highly intricate history, an upbringing and life experiences which we cannot fully know. We don’t know the forces that shaped her and, at best, we can only partially ascertain her intentions and desires. Our understanding is always partial and incomplete.

* Deep listening entails vulnerability and flexibility. When we.re vulnerable, we can be open to other’s perspectives and willing to acknowledge the possibility of error. Vulnerability can facilitate transformation. As Paula Gunn Allen suggests, such vulnerability can be an important part of growth: And what is vulnerability? Just this: the ability to be wrong, to be foolish, to be weak and silly, to be an idiot. It is the ability to accept one’s unworthiness, to accept one’s vanity for what it is. It’s the ability to be whatever and whoever you are recognizing that you, like the world, like the earth, are fragile, and that in your fragility lies all possibility of growth and of death, and that the two are one and the same” (65).

* Deep listening entails asking for clarification. Before we respond, we should clarify the speaker’s message, to make sure that we’ve understood as fully as possible what s/he’s saying.

* Deep listening entails frequent pauses and the ability to remain silent. Sometimes it’s best simply to listen, and not respond verbally (especially if those responses would involve offering solutions, drawing analogies with our own experiences or those of others, or speaking without first self-reflecting).

* Deep listening enables us to challenge the ideas, not the speakers: We can respectfully, but forthrightly, challenge desconocimientos, misunderstandings, and expressions of falsehoods and stereotypes about our own groups and other groups. When doing so, it is vital that we challenge the stereotypes/racism/ideologies/etc. not the speaker herself.

Sources: Allen, Paula Gunn. Off the Reservation: Reflections on Boundary-Busting, Border-Crossing Loose Canons. Boston: Beacon Press, 1998.

Anzaldúa, Gloria E. “now let us shift....the path of conocimiento....inner work, public acts.” this bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation. Eds. Gloria E. Anzaldúa and AnaLouise Keating. New York: Routledge, 2002. 540-78.

Cervenak, Sarah J., Karina L. Cespedes, Caridad Souza, Andrea Straub. “Imagining Differently: The Politics of Listening in a Feminist Classroom.” this bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation. Eds. Gloria E. Anzaldúa and AnaLouise Keating. New York: Routledge, 2002. 341-56.

Hogue, Cynthia; Parker, Kim Miller, Meredith. “Talking the Talk and Walking the Walk: Ethical Pedagogy in the Multicultural Classroom.” Feminist Teacher 12 (1998): 89.

Keating, AnaLouise. “Women of Color and Feminism: Twenty Years after This Bridge Called My Back.” Paper presented at New York University.WS/SOCI 5463. Fall 2002.

University Policies:

Academic Dishonesty (http://www.vpaa.unt.edu/academic-integrity.htm): The University takes plagiarism and cheating very seriously. Plagiarized work will earn a zero for the assignment. Students will face action according to University guidelines for academic dishonesty. I reserve the right to submit any paper I suspect of plagiarism to Turnitit.com.

What is plagiarism? Each of the circumstances below is plagiarism: A. Copying any work that is not your own and presenting it as your own work in your paper or in class discussions word for word. B. Putting words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, or materials from any source in your paper almost word for word without identifying the source while changing, adding, or omitting a few words to make it look different from the original. C. Cutting sentences, words, phrases, paragraphs, or more from printed sources, material and pasting them into your paper word for word. D. Copying any work that is not English, translating it into English yourself, and putting it in your paper or forum without identifying the source. E. Having anyone else, be it a family member, friend, or someone from a paper mill or online paper writing service, write your paper or parts of your paper for you. F. Quoting a source incorrectly by changing, adding, or omitting some of the words in the original rather than putting it entirely in your own words. G. Paraphrasing a source by putting it completely in your own words but failing to identify what the source is. H. Quoting word for word from a source but failing to use quotation marks and/or failing to identify what the source is. I. Using your own previous work in your current work without citing the original work.

What happens if I plagiarize?

• If you plagiarize on any of your assignments, I will notify the Women’s and Gender Studies department head and the Dean of Students about your plagiarism, and you may face a spectrum of repercussions from a zero on the assignment to academic probation and even expulsion from college.

Academic Ethics: (http:www.unt.edu/csrr): Acts of academic dishonesty are subject to discipline at UNT. Cheating, plagiarism, and furnishing false or misleading information are acts of academic dishonesty. The definitions of these terms are clearly described in the Undergraduate Catalog (www.unt.edu/catalog) and by the Center for Students Rights and Responsibilities.

Authorized Class Absence (http://www.unt.edu/vpaa_fy0708_fhb/III-a.html): All travel by students off campus for the purpose of participation in UNT sponsored activities must be authorized by the dean of the school or college of the sponsoring department. Within three days after the absence, students must obtain authorized absence cards from the dean of students for instructors.

Absence for Religious Holidays (http://www.unt.edu/vpaa_fy0708_fhb/III-a.html): A student absent due to the observance of a religious holiday may take examinations/ complete assignments scheduled for the day(s) missed within a reasonable time after the absence. Class participants should notify the instructor via email of planned absences for religious holidays.

Disability Support Services (http://www.unt.edu/oda): ODA Office in Sage Hall, Suite 167 University ODA Statement: “The University of North Texas makes reasonable academic accommodation for students with disabilities. Students seeking accommodation must first register with the Office of Disability Accommodation (ODA) to verify their eligibility. If a disability is verified, the ODA will provide you with an accommodation letter to be delivered to faculty to begin a private discussion regarding your specific needs in a course. You may request accommodations at any time, however, ODA notices of accommodation should be provided as early as possible in the semester to avoid any delay in implementation. Note that students must obtain a new letter of accommodation for every semester and must meet with each faculty member prior to implementation in each class. For additional information see the Office of Disability Accommdation website at http://www.unt.edu/oda. You may also contact them by phone at 940.565.4323.”

Drop Information: All information regarding deadlines for dropping or withdrawing this course can be found at: http://registrar.unt.edu/registration/dropping-class

Acceptable Student Behavior: Student behavior that interferes with an instructor’s ability to conduct a class or other students' opportunity to learn is unacceptable and disruptive and will not be tolerated in any instructional forum at UNT. Students engaging in unacceptable behavior will be directed to leave the classroom and the instructor may refer the student to the Dean of Students to consider whether the student's conduct violated the Code of Student Conduct. The university's expectations for student conduct apply to all instructional forums, including university and electronic classroom, labs, discussion groups, field trips, etc. The Code of Student Conduct can be found at www.deanofstudents.unt.edu

Sexual Discrimination, Harassment, & Assault: UNT is committed to providing an environment free of all forms of discrimination and sexual harassment, including sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. If you (or someone you know) has experienced or experiences any of these acts of aggression, please know that you are not alone. The federal Title IX law makes it clear that violence and harassment based on sex and gender are Civil Rights offenses. UNT has staff members trained to support you in navigating campus life, accessing health and counseling services, providing academic and housing accommodations, helping with legal protective orders, and more.

UNT’s Dean of Students’ website offers a range of on-campus and off-campus resources to help support survivors, depending on their unique needs: http://deanofstudents.unt.edu/resources_0. Renee LeClaire McNamara is UNT’s Student Advocate and she can be reached through e-mail at [email protected] or by calling the Dean of Students’ office at 940-565- 2648. You are not alone. We are here to help.

Policy on Recording Class Sessions: Any recording of class sessions may only be done with the permission of the instructor and other members of the class. If permission is granted, all recording is for individual student use only and may not be distributed in any form or manner.

Syllabus Information: This syllabus is tentative and subject to change at any point during the semester. If there are any policy changes (i.e. grading, attendance) during the semester, a new/ revised syllabus will be issued and given to all students. A copy of this syllabus will be on file in the department office (GAB 467). However, if you lose your personal copy, please refer to the copy on Canvas.

Writing Lab: If you have any problems with your writing, please come see me for help or use our University Writing Lab (http://www.unt.edu/writinglab/).

Note: The Writing Lab only works if you give yourself adequate time to write, schedule, and rewrite. Plan accordingly.

Last Words: I strongly encourage you to talk to me outside of class if you are having problems with this course, or if you have any additional questions. I consider myself an agent here to help you think and learn and expect you to take an active role in this process as well. I can’t help you if I don’t know you need help.

Weekly Schedule:

This schedule is tentative. As the instructor, I reserve the right to modify the reading or assignments. All changes will be announced in class and via Canvas.

Students are responsible for reading all assigned material before class and should come prepared to discuss, question, and build on the assigned material.

Class: Reading: Assignments Due: 1: January 15 In class: Hooks: “Theory as Liberatory Practice” Syllabus, Introductions, and Treichler & Kramare: “Feminist” Defining Feminisms Walker: Definition of “Womanist”

2: January 22 The Womanist Idea pp.xi -141 Discussion Womanisms Chapter 1: “Luxocracy,” Chapter 2: Questions due “Womanist Origins,” Chapter 3: Tuesday by 9 am “Womanist Worldview/Womanism as Spiritual Movement, “Chapter 4: “Womanist Methodology,” Chapter 5: “A Spiritual Archaeology of the Womanist Idea,” Chapter 6: “Spiritual Activism”

Recommended: 1. Coleman, Monica. (2006) “Roundtable Discussion: Must I Be a Womanist,” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, pp. 85-134. 2. Manuelito, Kathryn. (2006) “Womanism to Indigenism,” Works and Days 47/48, pp. 167-195. 3. Ogunyemi, Chikwenzi Okongo. (1985) “Womanism: The Dynamics of the Black Female Novel in English,” Signs 11.1, pp. 63-80. 4. Hudson-Weems, Clenora. (1997) “Africana Womanism and the Critical Need for Africana Theory and Thought,” The Western Journal of Black Studies 21.2, pp. 79-84. 5. Walker, Alice. (1983) In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens. 6. Lightsey, Pamela. (2015) Our Lives Matter: A Womanist Queer Theology.

3: January 29 All readings are located on Canvas: Discussion Narayan: “The Project of Feminist Questions due Feminist/Womanist Epistemology” Tuesday by 9 am Epistemologies Bar-On: “Marginality and Epistemic Privilege” Meyer: “Acultural Assumptions of Empiricism: A Native Hawaiian Critique” Collins: “The Social Construction of Black Feminist Thought” Haraway: “Situated Knowledges” Harding: “Rethinking Standpoint Epistemology” Recommended: 1. Scott, Joan. (1991) “The Evidence of Experience,” Critical Inquiry 17.4, pp. 773-797. 2. Harding, Sandra. (1986) “From the Woman Question in Science to the Science Question in Feminism,” The Science Question in Feminism, pp. 15-29. 3. Alcoff, Linda and Elizabeth Potter, eds. (1993) Feminist Epistemologies. 4. Duran, Jane. (2003) Worlds of Knowing: Global Feminist Epistemologies. 5. Cajete, Gregory. (2000) Native Science: Natural Laws of Independence. 6. Clough, Sharyn. (2003) Beyond Epistemology.

4: February 5 All readings are located on Canvas: Discussion Bebel: “Woman and Socialism.” Questions due Marxist & Socialist Engels: “The Origin of the Family, Tuesday by 9 am Feminisms Private Property, and the State” Rubin: “The Traffic in Women: Notes on the ‘Political Economy’ of Sex” Hartmann: “The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a more progressive union” Hartsock:“The Feminist Standpoint: Developing the Ground for a Specifically Feminist Historical Materialism.” Joseph: “The Incompatible Menage à Trois: Marxism. Feminism, and Racism” Recommended: 1. Tong: (2018) “Marxist and Socialist Feminism.” 2. The Manifesto of Communism: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ 3. Kollontai: “Working Woman and Mother” 4. Mohanty: (2003) “Women Workers and the Politics of Solidarity” and “Privatized Citizenship, Corporate Academies, and Feminist Projects” in Feminism Without Borders. 5. Sargent, ed. (1981) Women and Revolution: A Discussion of the Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism.

5: February 12 Black Feminist Thought pp. vii – 160 Discussion Part 1: “The Politics of Black Feminist Questions due Black Feminist Thought Thought” and “Distinguishing Features of Tuesday by 9 am Black Feminist Thought” Part 2: “Work, Family, and Black Women’s Oppression,” “Mammies, Matriarchs, and Other Controlling Images,” “The Power of Self-definition,” and “The Sexual Politics of Black Womanhood” Recommended: 1. Cooper, Anna Julia. (1988) A Voice from the South. 2. Guy-Sheftall, ed. (1995) Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought. 3. Smith, Barbara, ed. (1983) Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology. 4. Hull, Gloria T., Patricia Bell Scott and Barbara Smith. (1982) But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women’s Studies. 5. James, Joy and T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, eds. (2000) The Black Feminist Reader. 6. Spillers, Hortense. (1987) “Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe: An American Grammar Book,” Diacritics 17.2, pp. 65-81.

6: February 19 Canvas: Discussion Selections from This Bridge Called My Questions due Women of Color Theories: Back: pp. xxix-xxxiv, xliii-6, 19, 22-35, Tuesday by 9 am This Bridge Called My Back 41-47, 53-64, 68-72, 81-86, 90-103, 111- 135, 148-154, 161-172, 195-196, 198- 218, 221-237 Recommended: 1. All those unread pieces from This Bridge Called My Back 2. Alarcón, Norma. (1990) “The Theoretical Subject(s) of This Bridge Called My Back and Anglo-American Feminism” in Making Face, Making Soul/ Haciendo Caras edited by Gloria Anzaldúa, pp. 356-69. 3. Anzaldúa, Gloria E., ed. (1990) in Making Face, Making Soul/ Haciendo Caras: Creative and Critical Perspectives by Feminists of Color. 4. Anzaldúa and Keating, eds. (2002) This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for Transformation.

7: February 26 Canvas: Discussion Crenshaw: “Demarginalizing the Questions due Intersectionality Intersection of Race and Sex” Tuesday by 9 am McCall: “The Complexity of Intersectionality” Alexander-Floyd: “Disappearing Acts” Levine-Rasky: “Intersectionality Theory Applied to Whiteness and Middle- Classness” Puar: “’I Would Rather Be a Cyborg than a Goddess’” Recommended: 1. Nash, Jennifer. (2008) “Re-thinking Intersectionality,” Feminist Review 89, pp. 1-15. 2. Patil, Vrushali. (2013) “From Patriarchy to Intersectionality,” Signs 38.4, pp. 847-867. 3. Cho, Crenshaw, and McCall. (2013) “Toward a Field of Intersectionality Studies,” Signs 38.4, pp. 785-810. 4. Choo and Ferree. (2010) “Practicing Intersectionality in Sociological Research,” Sociological Theory 28.2, pp. 129-149. 5. Collins, Patricia Hill and Sirma Bilge. (2016) Intersectionality. 6. Hancock, Ange-Marie. (2016) Intersectionality: An Intellectual History. 7. Crenshaw, Kimberle. (1991) “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color” in Stanford Law Review 43.6, pp. 1241-1299. 8. Spade, Dean. (2013) “Intersectional Resistance and Law Reform” in Signs 38.4, pp. 1031-1055.

8: March 5 Canvas: Discussion Cupo: “L’Écriture Féminine and Writing Questions due L’Écriture Féminine the Body” Tuesday by 9 am Cixous: “The Laugh of the Medusa” Irigaray: “The Sex Which Is Not One” Irigaray: “When Our Lips Speak Together” Kristeva: from Revolution in Poetic Language Wittig: “One Is Not Born a Woman”

Recommended: 1. Lacan, Jacques – “The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience,” “The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious,” “The Instance of the Letter in the Unconscious,” and “The Signification of the Phallus” 2. Irigaray, Luce – “The Poverty of Psychoanalysis” from The Irigaray Reader 3. Tong, Rosemarie – “Psychoanalytic Feminism” in Feminist Thought (2018) pp.155-181 4. Irigaray, Luce. (1985) The Sex Which Is Not One. 5. Irigaray, Luce. (1985) Speculum of the Other Woman. 6. Cixous, Hélène. (1994) The Hélène Cixous Reader. 7. Kristeva, Julia. (1984) Powers of Horror.

9: March 19 Foucault: The History of Sexuality, Discussion Volume 1 pp. 1-131 Questions due Canvas: Tuesday by 9 am Butler: “Critically Queer” Sedgewick: “Queer and Now” Berlant & Warner: “Sex in Public” Queer Theory Genealogies Recommended: 1. Wilchins, Riki. (2004) “Homosexuality: Foucault and the Politics of Self,” “Foucault and the Disciplinary Society,” and “Butler and the Problem of Identity” in Queer Theory, Gender Theory: An Instant Primer. 2. Sedgwick, Eve. (1990) Epistemology of the Closet. 3. Jagose, Annamarie. (1996) Queer Theory: An Introduction. 4. Sullivan, Nikki. (2003) A Critical Introduction to Queer Theory. 5. Butler, Judith. (1993) Bodies that Matter and (1990) Gender Trouble. 6. Warner, Michael, ed. (1993) Fear of a Queer Planet: Queer Politics and Social Theory. 7. Edelman, Lee. (1994) Homographesis: Essays in Gay Literary and Cultural Theory. 8. Bersani, Leo. (1987) “Is the Rectum a Grave?” in October 43, pp. 197-222. 9. For more recent discussions of queer theory, see: 1. Eng, David, Judith Halberstam, and José Esteban Muñoz. “What’s Queer about Queer Studies Now?” in Social Text 23.3-4. 2. Ahmed, Sara. (2004) “Queer Feelings” in The Cultural Politics of Emotion and (2006) Queer Phenomenology. 3. Muñoz, José Esteban. (2009) Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity. 4. Halberstam, Judith. (2005) In a Queer Time and Place and (2011) The Queer Art of Failure. 5. Halberstam, Jack. (2012) Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender, and the End of Normal. 6. Edelman, Lee. (2004) No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive. 7. McRuer, Robert (2006) Crip Theory and (2012) Sex and Disability. 8. Halperin, David. (2004) How to Do the History of Homosexuality.

10: March 26 Canvas: Discussion Hames-Garcia: “Queer Theory Questions due Queer of Color Critique Revisited” Tuesday by 9 am Somerville: “Scientific Racism and the Invention of the Homosexual Body” Ferguson: “Race-ing Homonormativity: Citizenship, Sociology, and Gay Identity” Muñoz: “Performing Disidentifications” Johnson: “’Quare’ Studies, or (Almost) Everything I Know about Queer Studies I learned from My Grandmother” Ross: “Beyond the Closet as Raceless Paradigm” Recommended: 1. Cohen, Cathy. (1997) “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?” in GLQ 3.4, pp. 437-465. 2. Ferguson, Roderick. (2004) Aberrations in Black: Toward a Queer of Color Critique. 3. Muñoz, José. (2006) “Feeling Brown, Feeling Down: Latina Affect, the Performativity of Race, and the Depressive Position” in Signs 31.3, pp. 675-688. 4. Johnson, E. Patrick. (2016) No Tea, No Shade: New Writings in Black Queer Studies. 5. Rodríguez, Juana María. (2014) Sexual Futures, Queer Gestures, and Other Latina Longings and (2003) Queer Latinidad: Identity Practices, Discursive Spaces. 6. Hammonds, Evelynn. (1994) “Black (W)holes and the Geometry of Black Female Sexuality” in differences 6.2-3, pp. 126-145. 7. Pérez, Hiram. (2015) A Taste for Brown Bodies: Gay Modernity and Cosmopolitan Desire. 8. Anzaldúa, Gloria E. (1991) “To(o) Queer the Writer- Loca, escritora y chicana” 9. Harper, Phillip Brian. (2005) “The Evidence of Felt Intuition: Minority Experience, Everyday Life, and Critical Speculative Knowledge” in Black Queer Studies, Johnson & Henderson eds., pp. 106-123.

11: April 2 Canvas: Discussion Stone: “The Empire Strikes Back: A Questions due Transfeminisms Posttranssexual Manifesto” Tuesday by 9 am Stryker: “(De)Subjugated Knowledges: An Introduction to Transgender Studies” Halberstam: “Transgender Butch: Butch/FTM Border Wars & the Masculine Continuum” Lane: “Trans as Bodily Becoming: Rethinking the Biological as Diversity, Not Dichotomy” Connell: “Transsexual Women and Feminist Thought: Toward New Understanding and New Politics” Snorton & Haritaworn: “Trans Necropolitics: A Transnational Reflection on Violence, Death, and the Trans of Color Afterlife”

Recommended: 1. Heyes, Cressida. (2003) “Feminist Solidarity after Queer Theory: The Case of Transgender” in Signs 28.4, pp. 1093-1120. 2. Adams, Rachel. (2000) “Masculinity without Men” in GLQ 6.3, pp. 467-478. 3. Bettcher, Talia M. and Susan Stryker, eds. (2016) Trans/Feminisms a special edition of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly 3.1-2. 4. Stryker, Susan. (2017) Transgender History. 5. Snorton, C. Riley. (2017) Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity. 6. Namaste, Viviane. (2009) “Undoing Theory: The ‘Transgender Question’ and the Epistemic Violence of Anglo-American Feminist Theory” in Hypatia 24.3, pp. 11-32. 7. Prosser, Jay. (1998) “Judith Butler: Queer Feminism, Transgender, and Transubstantiation of Sex” in Second Skins. 8. Stryker, Susan. (1994) “My Words to Victor Frankenstein about the Village of Chamounix: Performing Transgender Rage” in GLQ 1.3, pp. 227-254.

12: April 9 Read “Introduction,” “The Revolution is No discussion for Everyone,” and chosen chapter questions this Queer Indigenous Studies week.

Bring 9 copies of your reading notes to class. Recommended: 1. Driskill, Qwo-Li, Daniel Heath Justice, and Deborah Miranda, eds. Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature. 2. Towle, Evan and Lynn Morgan. (2002) “Romancing the Transgender Native: Rethinking the Use of the ‘Third Gender’ Concept” in GLQ 8.4. 3. Driskill, Qwo-Li. (2016) Asegi Stories: Cherokee Queer and Two-Spirit Memory. 4. Chacaby, MaNee and Mary Louise Plummer. (2016) A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder. 5. O’Hara, Jean, ed. (2014) Two-Spirit Acts: Queer Indigenous Performances. 6. Driskill, Qwo-Li. (2010) “Doubleweaving Two Spirit Critiques: Building Alliances between Native and Queer Studies” in GLQ 16.1-2, pp. 69-92.

13: April 16 Read: “Foreword,” “Preface,” Discussion “Introduction” and “The Sexuality of Questions due Transnational Queer Theory: Terrorism,” and “Abu Ghaib and U.S. Tuesday by 9 am Terrorist Assemblages Sexual Exceptionalism”

14: April 23 Read: “Intimate Control, Infinite Discussion Detection,” “’The Turban is not a Hat,’” Questions due “Queer Diaspora and Practices for Tuesday by 9 am Profiling,” “Conclusion,” and Transnational Queer Theory: “Postscript” Terrorist Assemblages, cont. Recommended: 1. Gopinath, Gayatri. (2005) Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas and South Asian Public Cultures. 2. Manalansan IV, Martin. (2003) Global Divas: Filipino Gay Men in the Diaspora. 3. Cruz-Malavé, Arnaldo and Martin Manalansan IV, eds. (2002) Queer Globalizations: Citizenship and the Afterlife of Colonialism. 4. Arondekar, Anjali. (2005) “Border/Line Sex: Queer Postcolonialities and How Race Matters” in Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies 7.2, pp.236-50. 5. Duggan, Lisa. (2002) “The New Homonormativity: The Sexual Politics of Neoliberalism” in Materializing Democracy edited by Russ Castronovo and Dana Nelson, pp. 175-94. 6. Eng, David L. (2003) “Transnational Adoption and Queer Diasporas” in Social Text 23.3- 4, pp. 1-37. 7. Beauchamp, Toby. (2009) “Artful Concealment and Strategic Visibility: Transgender Bodies and U.S. State Surveillance after 9/11”

15: April 30 Canvas: Discussion Mohanty: “Under Western Eyes: Questions due Postcolonial Feminisms Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Tuesday by 9 am and Writing Workshop Discourses” Sandoval: “US Third-World Bring 3 copies of Feminism: The Theory and Method of your draft to class. Oppositional Consciousness in the Postmodern World” Spivak: “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Chow: “’Where Have All the Natives Gone?’” Lugones: “Playfulness, ‘World’- Travelling, and Loving Perception” Anzaldúa: “La Conciencia de la Mestiza: Towards a New Consciousness”

Recommended: 1. Lorde, Audre: “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” 2. hooks, bell: “The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators” 3. Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty: “Three Women’s Texts and a Critique of Imperialism” 4. Pérez, Emma. (1999) The Decolonial Imaginary: Writing Chicanas into History. 5. Anzaldúa, Gloria E. (1987) Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. 6. Minh-ha, Trinh T. (1989) Woman, Native, Other.

16: Finals Week: May 6-10 Final draft due Tuesday by 11 pm CST via Turnitin.com